Thanks for your thoughtful comments and questions.

It’s important to say that board members and senior management staff were supportive of this project from the beginning.

There were power conflicts, but nothing dramatic like Mass Moca vs. Christoph Buechel. On the whole, I think all parties were generally pleased with the way Off the Wall turned out. It certainly wasn’t perfect, and I’m glad everyone was willing to be part of the experiment.

Probably the greatest conflict was between our exhibition designers and staff. I placed the designers–who had a strong concept and point of view–on the same level as the artists. This is a curatorial no-no. Exhibition design is generally used to elevate and support artwork. Very late in the design phase, staff noted that the design of one gallery/studio was not visitor friendly. We also didn’t have enough staff or time to realize the complexity of the original design. Luckily, our designers found a solution that everyone was happy with.

Off the Wall tried to be a populist event. There was no exclusive VIP opening. The price was $12 for general admission. My colleagues and I wrote text panels in clear, non-jargony language. We included art forms that normally don’t have a place in a fine arts museum. I’m curious what others have to say….

I’ll let my colleague Maura address the topic of audience for Off the Wall.

That said what follows is designed to be disruptive. So please do not take personal offence.

To begin I should reveal the bias in my position in advance. I am a practicing artist and as such I believe this gives me certain privileges when it comes to criticism of the practice. Added to that my politics are left wing which compel me to critique the field of art.

With the above in mind the following questions occur to me:

1. Were there conflicts of power between the artists, museum, museum employees, curators, organizers and audiences?

2. How would the actors describe the conflict?

3. How were the conflicts resolved?

4. Was there any real change as a result of the conflict?

5. Questions for the artists:

a) What purpose do you believe you serve?
b) What purpose does your work serve?
c) How do you measure the value of your work?

6) Questions for the organizers:

a) Who were you trying to attract to the event?
b) Did they come?

Finally, how would anyone involved respond to the critical descriptor of:

“Another elitist art event in the history of a self referential language, that has its origins in the 19th Century creed of “art for art sake” complete with it’s deliberate obfuscation. This same obscurity is the imperative of exclusivity which in its turn serves as the distinguishing sign of its market value.”

Thanks again for the invitation

Kindest regards
Mark

whaaaa>>>?????
since when is the jewish museum so f*ing koool?
i dont remember them doing any ish like this when i
was living there.

Hasidic (adjective): Describes an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect that originated in Eastern Europe in the 18th century.

Ba’al Shem Tov (proper noun): Literally, “Master of the Good Name,” is the traditional Hebrew name for Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (1698–1760), the founder of Hasidic Judaism. It is a movement whose emphasis is spirituality and joy, in addition to academic Talmud study.

Mashiach (noun): Hebrew and Yiddish for “Messiah.”

Simchas Toirah (noun): Is the Yiddish term/Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation for the holiday of Simchat Torah, which means “rejoicing with the Torah,” and is when Jews celebrate the conclusion and beginning of the annual public Torah reading cycle.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (nouns): Respectively, the Jewish New Year (literally, “the head of the year”) and the Day of Atonement, which altogether mark the Ten Days of Repentance, the holiest time in the Jewish calendar.

Sukkos (noun/plural noun): The Yiddish term/Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation for the holiday of Sukkot, the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles, which is a biblical pilgrimage holiday marked by building and eating in temporary huts.

Seifer Toirah (noun): The Yiddish term/Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation for a Torah scroll.

Toiras Ha’Ba’al Shem (Ishpitzeh, etc.) (nouns): The teaching, or literally “the Torah” of these Hasidic rabbis; the words of wisdom that they spread to their followers, in Yiddish and Hebrew, such as: “The entire Torah is every Jew,” and, “To love another human is the most important part of the Torah.”

Menoirahs and Chanukiot (plural nouns): Yiddish term/Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation for Hanukkah lamps.

Taleysim and Tzitzis (plural nouns): Respectively, Yiddish/Ashkenazi Hebrew for traditional Jewish prayer shawls and the twined and knotted fringes that hang from the religious garments’ four corners.

Halakhic-ly (adverb): According to binding rabbinic Jewish law.

Yiddish (adjective): Yiddish for Jewish, as in “I’m taking inspiration from the Yiddish [or, Jewish] territory.”